


Last Hope

by Tenoko1



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Gen, S11 e09, The Cage, Written pre winter finale, You're my last hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 21:07:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5390417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenoko1/pseuds/Tenoko1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'm your only hope." Or the one where Lucifer gets visitors because he's the world's only hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Hope

Characters: Sam, Lucifer, Castiel, with mentions of Dean and Amara.

Gen fic with hints(?) of Dean/Cas.

–

Now that he’s there, Sam’s not sure how he ever thought this plan was a good one. He knew it was an illusion, a projection; that he wasn’t really standing in the Cage with Lucifer, but damned if the lie wasn’t very convincing. The sound of screams and unquenchable fire set the horrible ambiance for the conversation, and Sam was trying very hard not to panic and ruin this. He wouldn’t be there if he didn’t have to be, if Lucifer weren’t the best shot in the dark they had.

The archangel was regarding him with a curious tilt to his head. It was only then that Sam noticed what was missing.

“Where are Michael and Adam?”

“Michael is dead. Adam was never here,” Lucifer said. His mouth turned up at the corner. “You know that.”

“I didn’t, actually.”

He spread his hands. “It’s as you left it, sans Michael.”

“This isn’t how I remember it.”

Lucifer’s hands fell to his sides. “I see. Why have you come? And how?”

“The Darkness is out,” was all Sam said.

“I know.”

“You have to know some way we can defeat her.”

A snort escaped him and Lucifer arched a brow. “Defeat? Sam. All of Heaven and six archangels were only able to contain the Darkness. You cannot defeat it.”

“Then how do we contain her?”

“I am your only hope.” A derisive laugh bubbled from him and he turned away.

Sam scowled. “Why is that funny?”

Lucifer cast him a glance over his shoulder. “It isn’t funny. It’s tragic. You’re doomed, plain and simple. The war fought, the angels lost. All of it was in vain. The Darkness is free again, but I’m still trapped in here.” At Sam’s furrowed brow, Lucifer turned. “Sam. I am the Lightbringer. It is what my name means. God’s strongest, most trusted, the only one to be able to stand on equal footing with the Darkness and then beat it back.”

“So what do we do?”

“Say your good-byes,” he shrugged.

Sam shook his head in disbelief. This wasn’t how- Lucifer was their last hope, the _only hope_. “Just give up?”

“Sam, even were I free, there is no guarantee I could defeat her a second time. I had an army. The Darkness wasn’t a shape before, if she is now in human form, I have no idea what you are dealing with, how she’s changed-“

“We could fill you in on all of that-“

“But I am _still in_ the Cage, you forget,” Lucifer interjected, “and unless you are willing for the forces of Heaven and Hell to re-break the sixty-six seals and resurrect Lilith just so you can kill her again, then in the Cage I will stay.”

“Is that even possible?”

“No.”

His eyes searched the angel’s face, looking for some hint this was a lie, that there was something Lucifer wasn’t telling him, that there were options, hope, a chance. Lucifer stared blankly back. To his horror, Sam found himself swallowing a knot in his throat and blinking away tears as something deep inside shattered.

“Then I’ve destroyed the world?” His voice was alarmingly small and child-like even to his own ears.

Lucifer blinked, surprised by this new information. Then a smile, small and sympathetic, curled the sharp edges of his mouth. “I’m sure it was on accident done with the best intentions.”

When he took a step forward, Sam backpedaled sharply away from him until his back slammed into the interior wall of the Cage, forcing him to recoil with a hiss. Heat seared through his shirt. His wide, panicked eyes found Lucifer again, frozen where he stood half in shadow.

“Go home, Sam. Go back to your life. You’ve been here too long already.”

Sam shook his head. “Time passes- it’s only been maybe a second,” he said, suddenly uncertain. Surely nothing could have happened in that time.

“Then that is one second too long, Sam Winchester. You do not belong here.” Elegant fingers made a complicated gesture in the air. “Wake up.”

Instantly, Sam was, gasping and sitting up sharply. Safe, whole, and home.

Back in the Cage, Lucifer turned slowly, eyes peering into the flames and shadows beyond the walls of his prison.

“You can show yourself. I’m well aware of anyone to enter this area.”

Castiel did not look the same as he did the last time Lucifer saw him alive. He looked older, beaten down. Hollowed out. His wings were broken and mangled, feathers drifting loose as he moved and were burned to ash in an instant.

“What happened to you?” he demanded, voice betraying more than he wanted.

His brother ignored the question. “Did you mean what you said? There’s no other way to reopen the Cage?”

“Not one I am aware of.”

“And Sam just believed you?”

“Sam knows me well. Better than you do. I do not lie, Castiel.”

His brother’s blue eyes narrowed and it was reassuring that despite his current state, he was still as fierce. “But you do not tell the whole truth, either.”

“That is a possibility. Regarding what?”

“There is another option to get you out.”

Snorting, Lucifer turned away from the bars. “Not a viable one.”

Castiel stepped in close to the Cage. “That is not for you to decide alone, Lucifer!”

The archangel whirled on him, angry. “It _is_ for me to decide! Sam is _my_ vessel, and I will not ask him to trade places, not even were it guaranteed I could do what you expect.”

“I didn’t mean, Sam,” said Castiel, voice quiet and gaze unflinching.

For a moment, Lucifer just stared, uncomprehending. Then, “You? You would trade places with me? Stay in the Cage while I go free in the _hope_ I will help you and with the hope I can somehow win?” Castiel lifted his chin. Lucifer’s gaze raked over him, baffled. “You crazy, suicidal angel. No. No, Castiel. I will not.”

“You are our only hope!”

“Yes, I am! But rather than focusing their efforts on helping me help them, the Winchesters would be so distraught by your predicament they would be of no use.”

“I am trying to save them.”

“And killing Dean in the process. Which will then kill Sam, and I will have no hand in that.”

“Lucifer, please.” Lucifer could smell the flesh of Castiel’s vessel burning when he grabbed the cell. “What’s at stake is so much bigger than us three.”

Lucifer stared at him long and hard, before asking, “How did we get here?”

With a sigh, Castiel’s hands and gaze fell away. The sound of sizzling stopped, but the smell remained. “We ran out of options. Then. Now.” He looked back up with a shrug. “So we take the only path left to us.”

Pregnant silence passed between them until Lucifer said, “They will not forgive you.”

Castiel nodded. “I know.”

“I can make no guarantees.”

“I know.”

Lucifer studied his brother another moment before giving a slow nod. “Okay.”

Swallowing, Castiel stuck his hand through the Cage, and after a beat, Lucifer clasped it in his own. The area was flooded with blinding white light and it then they were staring at each other, hands still clasped, from opposite positions.

  
–  
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